Tool art

This unique arrangement has ties with the past

The spokelike arrangement of rakes, spades, and pickaxes attached to Julie Heinsheimer's barn in Rolling Hills isn't there just to be pretty--these antique tools also recall pleasant memories. John Bauman, the owner of Palos Verdes Begonia Farm, collected the tools during antique-hunting trips in the Midwest and displayed them at the farm. When the popular nursery closed its doors a few years ago, Bauman offered his collection to Heinsheimer, and she accepted.

"I like having a little piece of local history in my garden," she says. The array of tools on the barn's rustic siding also reminds Heinsheimer of the hex signs that Pennsylvania Dutch farmers used to paint on their barns to promote good fortune--she likes that too.

Nails pounded into the barn siding (one at the head end of the tool and one at the end of the handle), supplemented by wire, secure each tool in place.